power, the full assurance of hope, and all the enlargement of love. Holy Ghost, enter thine own temple, and there abide for ever! Hear me, O my Father! to whom with the Son and the Holy Ghost, three persons in one God, be glory for ever. 8. THE ENLARGED OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY GHOST. There has been, from the beginning, as the human race has been multiplying, a constant and gradually increasing gift of the Spirit to man. Abel, Enoch and Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Joshua, Samuel and all the prophets, David and other pious kings, were raised up, under the Old Testament, through the Holy Spirit. Our Lord's first coming was followed by the enlarged first fruits of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, and then the church of the living God was still farther enlarged by Gentile converts. Christian truth was seen struggling through the conflicts of the first four or five centuries to the full establishment in the Roman Empire of a visible church. extension of that church issued in the kingdoms of The gradual Europe every where nationally acknowledging Christ. At the Reformation the spiritual church became more distinctly marked and separated from the merely formal church. God has been all along preparing the way for that happy predicted æra, when it shall be said, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and the Deliverer · shall come out of Sion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. There are large and full promises, of which we have yet only received a small commencement. It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. All righteousness is eminently wrought in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Prayer for the further outpouring of the Spirit. O God, our Saviour, who hast required us to pray for all men, and hast told us that this is good and acceptable in thy sight, who wilt have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, I earnestly pray thee to fulfil thy gracious promises, and to pour out in these last days of thy Spirit upon all flesh. Impart, I pray thee, the spirit of grace and supplication to thy people Israel, grant the same rich grace to the Gentiles, and let the fulness of the Gentiles come in, and all Israel be saved, and the whole earth be filled with thy glory Hear me, O my Father! for my Redeemer's sake. Amen. Gen. i. 2; vi. 3. xv.; xvi. Acts ii. i. 2. 2 Peter i. 21. SCRIPTURES. Ezekiel xi.; xxxvi: Joel ii. Matt. iii. John xiv.; BOOKS ON THE SPIRIT. Wilson on the Spirit. Thornton on the Fruits of the Spirit. Biddulph's Lectures on the Spirit. Owen on the Holy Spirit. Faber on the Spirit. Hurioon on the Spirit. Mortimer's Lectures on the Spirit. CHAPTER VIII. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 1. The communications of the Spirit.-2. His extraordinary work.3. Enlightening of the Spirit.-4. The sanctification of the Spirit.5. The comfort of the Spirit.-6. The freedom with which God gives the Spirit.-7. Thanksgiving due for the Spirit. 1. THE COMMUNICATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. IT has pleased God to give us in his word many important details of what the Holy Spirit has done for man from age to age. These details will be briefly noticed. When the world was first created, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, then the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and beauty and order, light, warmth, and fruitfulness ensued. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens. When man was made in the image and likeness of God, it was through the Spirit. The Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Gen. ii. 7. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Job xxxiii. 44. And still it is the same power that creates us: Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, and they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth. Psalm civ. 30. In the period before the flood, the Spirit of the Lord raised up righteous Abel, Enoch and Noah. He also strove with the world, pleading in the preaching of Noah, and especially during the time the ark was building, for 120 years. In the call of Abraham we have the same Spirit working for the benefit of man. Thou art the Lord God who didst choose Abraham, and brought him forth out of the land of the Chaldees. Neh. ix. 7. I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. Isaiah li. 2. And when the covenant was ratified with him and his seed, the burning lamp of fire passed before him, as a token of the consent and seal of the Spirit of God. When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, the king acknowledged the Spirit of God. Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Gen. xli. 38. The same Spirit led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and guided them through the wilderness, and brought them into the promised land. Thus Isaiah says: As a beast goeth down into the valley the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest, so didst Thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name. Isaiah Ixiii. 18. Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them. Neh. ix. 20. There Moses wrote, under his inspiration, the Pentateuch. There Bezaleel and Aholiab were filled with the Spirit of God for the work of the tabernacle. Exod. xxx. There the Spirit of God came on wicked Balaam to inspire even him with true prophecies of the future blessedness of Israel. When the Israelites had conquered Canaan, and were brought themselves into bondage for their sins, the Spirit of the Lord raised up Judges, as Othniel, (Judges iii. 10.) Gideon (vi. 34.) Jepthah (xi. 29.) Samson (xiii. 25.) to be their deliverers, and to govern them. How mightily the same Spirit wrought in Elijah his whole history declares. David, Solomon, and other kings were filled with the same Spirit, and thus have we been blessed with Psalms, Proverbs, and other parts of the Old Testament. The Spirit of the Lord spake by them, and his words were in their tongues. 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. In a later age the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and many others, down to Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, were called and filled with the Spirit of God, and enabled to enrich the church with that full treasure, the histories and prophecies of the Old Testament; the fullest light of prophecy being given in the darkest part of the Jewish history. In all this history the loving-kindness of God and the sinfulness of man were wonderfully contrasted. While God was thus blessing his people Israel, they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit. Isaiah Ixiii. 10. They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and mis-used his prophets, until the wrath of God arose against his people till there was no remedy. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. And they were carried captive to Babylon. But God forsook not his people. He raised up Ezra to help in their return, and Nehemiah to assist in the restoration of the city, and his Spirit filled the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, and they stirred up the people to rebuild the temple, and thus a remnant again restored to, and blessed in their own land: were |